Agriculture Minister promises reopening of Rose Hall sugar estate this year – News Source Guyana

With the Guyana Sugar Corporation set to receive another $ 4 Billion in this year’s budget after receiving more than $10 billion last year, the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha today announced that the Rose Hall Estate, which was closed down under the APNU+AFC government will be reopened before the end of this year.

 “I want to inform the APNU+AFC, that later on this year…Rose Hall, one of the estates that they closed…will be reopened and smoke will be coming out of that chimney,” the Agriculture Minister told the House.  

Since its return to Office in 2020, the PPP/C Administration has been pressing ahead with its plans to revive the problem plagued sugar industry.

Though the Government has faced some hurdles with its plans and has found itself pumping billions into the industry which has been on the decline for more than a decade, the Agriculture Minister is forecasting better days ahead.

“In 2015, when we left Government, the industry was producing 216,352 metric tonnes [of sugar]. It moved from 216,352 metric tonnes in 2014 to 92,256 metric tonnes in 2019,” the Agriculture Minister pointed out while reminding the House that 7,000 sugar workers were placed on the breadline when the four estates were shut down. To date, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has re-employed 1,500 sugar workers.

As part of its quest to revitalize the Sugar Industry, and in doing so, reopen the three estates, the Government has injected billions of dollars into the Industry. For 2023, the Government plans to inject another $4B into the ailing industry.

The Government continues to inject billions of dollars into the ailing sugar industry even as the Sugar Corporation continues to operate at a loss.

Last year the industry, produced 47,011 tonnes of sugar falling, which was more than 17,000 tonnes below its target.